Chinese students test Stamford waters

Eve Sullivan

Updated 8:48 pm, Monday, April 29, 2013

Man Gao works on a project with Shannon Guerra at Scofield Middle School in Stamford, Conn. on Monday April 29, 2013.. Gao is one of a group of Chinese students visiting the school.
Photo: Dru Nadler

Man Gao works on a project with Shannon Guerra at Scofield Middle...

Xinhao Li works Scofield Middle School students Michcou Anilus and Justin Blum in Stamford, Conn. on Monday April 29, 2013. Li is part of a delegation of Chinese students visiting the school.
Photo: Dru Nadler

"Tonight they are going on the SoundWaters schooner," math teacher Eileen Wargo said during a class Monday morning. "Yesterday, they went to a Bluefish (baseball) game and Saturday we had a barbecue."

This is the second time delegates from Scofield's sister school have visited with the assistance of two grants from Hewlett Packard. Scofield has also sent teachers to visit Shandong University on two occasions.

"This is a project that started years ago," Principal Scott Clayton said of the water testing. "It started because of water quality problems in North Stamford."

Students in Wargo's class were conducting an unusual experiment in which one student is blindfolded and receives instructions from another.

"We're blindfolding ourselves and giving short commands," student Shannon Guerra said, "because scientists have to give short commands to the robots on Mars."

Shannon, 13, was working in a group with Man Gao, 12. An object on their list included a star inside of a heart. The two girls were joking around and seemed to be having fun.

"I'm learning new things and I'm trying to get used to the culture," Man said.

Other objects that students were describing to each other included an eraser cap on a pencil, an empty pencil sharpener and a house. Their homework assignment was to describe their easiest and hardest tasks of the class.

Justin Blum, 14, was working with Xinhao Li, 13. Justin is hosting Xinhao at his home for the week. Though there was a bit of a language barrier, they took part in several activities together over the weekend.

"She came to two classes and we had a lot of fun in science," Jordan said, adding that they're communicating well.

Scofield's water quality initiative began after receiving a $330,000 Hewlett Packard grant a few years ago for and then another $160,000 grant to continue the project.

Karen Kulish, who was teaching the class with Wargo, said the program started in 2011, when a group of Scofield teachers went to China and then 16 students came here.

"What we did was basically took our water-quality unit to China and taught them how to do testing," Kulish said.

Educators at Scofield say the students have something in common, as there are also water contamination problems in China. The Huangshui River Basin, the focus of the Shandong project, is one of China's most polluted river systems.

By working with Shandong University, they hope to cast an international spotlight on the rapidly growing issue of poor water quality. Working with the latest technology, students track data about the quality of water, topography, drainage, flora and fauna, and the impact of urban development on their waterways.